News Briefs

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, April 24, 2005

NEW FAIRFIELD
Seniors can apply

for new scholarships
New Fairfield High School seniors graduating this year can compete for three additional college scholarships.
The New Fairfield Community Thrift Shop is offering the $2,000 awards to students who prove both academic achievement and a level of community service exceeding graduation requirements.
Scholarship application forms and more information can be obtained at the high school college and career center.
NEW FAIRFIELD
Church auditioning

for two youth musicals
Want to be in Broadway show?
New Fairfield Congregational Church is holding auditions for its 10th season of youth musicals with a summer production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.''
Auditions will be held Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. for 13-24 year olds and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. for 7-12 year olds.
No prior experience or preparation for the auditions is necessary.
The show, directed by Carl Anderson, will be staged July 29 to Aug. 7.
For more information, e-mail

betsymusic@yahoo.com

STORRS

Police arrest at least 58 at UConn campus

Police made 58 arrests during the University of Connecticut's Spring Weekend party Thursday through Sunday morning, 14 more than last year despite a rain-drenched Saturday of this year's celebration.

Police arrested 10 people Saturday night and early Sunday. Half were charged with possession of alcohol by a minor, three were accused of drunken driving and two were arrested on breach of peace charges. Eight of those arrested were not UConn students.

Emergency medical crews treated 13 people at the off-campus Carriage House apartments late Saturday and early Sunday, state police said. Three were brought to the hospital for further treatment. Details of the injuries were not immediately available.

Partying at Carriage House during Spring Weekend is a tradition. The apartment complex has been the scene of rioting in past years, with people setting fires, overturning cars and throwing objects at police and firefighters.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Connecticut has drop in prison population

Growing at a rate of about 900 inmates each week between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation's prisons and jails held 2.1 million people, or one in every 138 U.S. residents, the government reported Sunday.

By last June 30, there were 48,000 more inmates, or 2.3 percent, more than the year before, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Connecticut was one of 12 states that reported a drop in their inmate populations.

The total inmate population has hovered around 2 million for the past few years, reaching 2.1 million on June 30, 2002, and just below that mark a year later.

While the crime rate has fallen over the past decade, the number of people in prison and jail is outpacing the number of inmates released, said the report's co-author, Paige Harrison.